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The Possum Holler Pickers, Community
Chime Choir and Second Baptist Church Choir will provide music in
the Gresheim building on the Broadway-Kickapoo corner.
The event
showcases these Lincoln retailers: Serendipity, Three Roses, Sugar
Creek Essentials, Beans and Such, Treasure Chest, Prairie Years,
Action Rental, Becherer’s Jewelry, Sew Many Friends, Seventh Heaven,
Cherished Memories, Wibben’s Computer, Abe’s, That Place – Merle
Norman, Lincoln Music Center, Kathleen’s – Lighthouse, Prairie Eye
Center, Sports Plus, Pink Shutter, B & K Antiques, MKS Jewelers,
Oasis, Cookie’s Bakery, Glenn Brunk Stationers. |
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[Photos by Jan Youngquist]
[Patrick Keane]
A closer inspection of the room clearly
reveals eclectic tastes. American Indian relics adorn a section of
wall and shelves. He says he has some great Indian music as well as
several other options, while chamber music is playing at the moment.
The neatly organized books reveal much of the same diversity —
disaster stories grouped between bio-terrorism and completely
unrelated selections in fiction and nonfiction.
The long wall beside his desk is
covered with over two decades of personal pictures. Most are action
pictures. A picture of him in a rain slicker on a mountain bike. A
picture of him walking briskly with dignitaries and TV reporters
with large microphones, everyone sporting serious looks. And so the
"me wall" goes until the far corner, where it ends with a framed
picture of his last and favorite car, a hot red, sporty Subaru. The
long-desired vehicle is now impractical with his age-related hip
pain.
A cubicle displays other types of
pictures. One wall is disasters: explosion fireballs and massive
train wreckage. Another wall is lined with certificates and awards.
The tabletop holds a collection of
miniature rescue vehicles and aircraft. The man quickly quips, "He
who has the most toys at the end, wins!" The toys, he says, were
given to him by friends. These would be friends he has made through
his work. The toys represent 22 years of disaster training and
response assistance.
Who is this man? He is Patrick Keane,
Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Region Seven coordinator.
As a young man coming from a strong
family background of governmental careers, Keane fully expected to
work in government. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in business
administration from Loyola University, Chicago, he entered the U.S.
Army and served from 1976 to 1977 in both active duty and active
reserve.
He trained as special weapons team
leader; nuclear weapons employment officer; nuclear, biological and
chemical officer; and linguist/liaison officer in Greece. He was
also assistant group operations officer, military intelligence
company commander, electronic warfare intelligence officer and
deputy operations officer for a Military Intelligence Battalion.
As a field artillery air observer for
the 75th Field Artillery Group, he provided aviation support for
search and rescue — SAR. It was there that he developed some of the
skills that he would hone and would later become his passion. He
accumulated knowledge and experience in SAR, which would eventually
lead to state awards and changes in SAR thinking at national and
international levels.
Keane returned to civilian life
following 13 months in Greece. From 1977 to 1980 he went to work for
Tinley Park as director/manager of services. His first charge was
emergency services. In addition, he saw to financial and personnel
functions.
The snowstorm of ’79 that closed down
the Chicago area served as a pivotal point in his career. Tinley
Park was the only area with full access for emergency services for
four days. Their roads to hospitals and other services were open.
Following the disaster, Illinois
Emergency Services Director Marion Jones came to Keane and said, "I
like what you did. You thought outside the box." Jones grabbed Keane
and pulled him into the state agency.
"I just fell into this," claims Keane.
But if you look at his background, training, athleticism and his
love of the outdoors, the job fit him perfectly, or he fit the job.
Though he serves all of Illinois as
needed, as regional coordinator Keane specifically assists 14
counties in central Illinois in planning, training and attaining
funding for equipment in preparation for emergencies. He has
traveled all over the state assisting with every major disaster. His
job entails a combination of routine paper work, planned site
training, planning and development guidance to local agencies, and
snap decisions at a disaster.
While Keane says his job hasn’t changed
in the 22 years he’s been doing it, the focus of the agency has
changed with the times. When he started in ’75, it was the Illinois
Emergency and Disaster Agency. The emphasis was on disaster
response. The emergency services focus has shifted from civil
defense to natural disasters, from natural disasters to hazmat
(hazardous materials), and currently to terrorism preparedness.
[to top of second column in
this article]
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Keane’s office is located in that tall,
round building in downtown Champaign. It is simple to find because
of its distinctiveness. Like the uniqueness of that building, Keane
doesn’t take the approach, "That’s the way we’ll do it because
that’s the way it’s always been done." It’s his ability to recognize
impractical standards and apply common sense to a project or
situation that has transformed emergency services planning. In
particular he has impacted search and rescue, nuclear power plant
disaster and pharmaceutical stockpiling preparedness.
When Keane began his job, Illinois did
not have a search and rescue training program. He has since
developed and teaches the search and rescue system that is used by
foot patrols, mountain bike and horse-mounted patrols and aircraft
in Illinois. His weekends are spent on the field training groups all
over Illinois and the Midwest. He uses a technique that he learned
from a couple of English fellows that requires less manpower and has
a better success rate. A footed patrol would take 150 people walking
in a line side by side and has only a 20 percent detection rate.
Using a technique called "Critical Separation," a crew of five will
have a 70 percent detection rate.
Keane has also brought his common sense
to mapping projects. He was asked to lead in the development of an
emergency response plan for the Clinton Nuclear Power Plant. At that
time, maps used concentric distances from the site and divided those
distances into 20 degree segments. No one knew why they used this
unnatural method, but it was the standard. He proposed using
established geopolitical boundaries with practical names that people
already know and understand. In an emergency everyone would quickly
know who was affected. Clinton was the first nonstandard mapping
plan, and five out of seven other nuclear power plants have since
followed suit.
Keane worked with Logan County
developing a hazardous materials plan. Industries with quantities of
hazardous materials are now marked with color- and number-coded
placards to indicate the types of chemicals present. The hazmat plan
took three years of weekly and monthly development. Jamie Pfeifer
and Larry Adams wrote the material. Dan Fulscher reviewed it and
sent it on to Keane. When it was done it won Logan County ESDA
Director Dan Fulscher a state award.
Keane then worked with Macon and
Champaign counties on their hazmat plans. They built on the plan
Logan County had developed, and the next year those counties each
won state awards.
Chemical stockpile preparedness is a
relatively new concept that has taken on much greater value since
9/11. Illinois has been a leader on this. Keane began work on this
10 years ago and wrote the current Illinois plan.
Thirteen members of Logan County ESDA
and LEPC attended Disaster Intelligence Training taught by Keane in
Decatur on Sept. 14. On Sept. 25 he came here for pre-disaster
planning. Sept. 29 he administered a mock disaster held in the Blue
Room. He supervised and critiqued the simulated tabletop disaster
conducted by community leaders and first responders from all over
Logan County.
In October he came here again to train
mounted search and rescue workers. Many of those at the training
session have been training under him for years. Gillette Ransom, who
was in attendance, praised Keane for his SAR training. "He’s just
great," she said.
His influence in Logan County has been
extensive. Fulscher says of Keane, "He is one of the most
intelligent men I’ve been around, if not the most. He’s professional
and dignified." Yet, he adds, "Those of us that really know him,
know the soft side — the friend, the painful agony of helping people
in need and being just a common folk not only makes him vulnerable
but even more likable because it shows he’s human."
Today, for the first time in 22 years,
the orderly, complete room in Champaign will sit empty. The state’s
budget crisis has robbed the citizens of Illinois of Keane and 21
out of 71 other agency leaders. Early retirement incentive packages
have removed much of the think tank in emergency management and
other leading state agencies.
[Sheila Curry]
Sheila Curry, Region Seven office
coordinator, who has sat on the other side of the wall listening to
Keane’s diverse musical selections for 25 years, retires Dec. 31.
Fulscher said, "We will miss Patrick
Keane in Logan County because he was dedicated. He knew how to push
us to be better and help us to be stronger and more prepared. He
leaves us with his legacy that will continue for many years."
The Illinois search and rescue program,
which Keane developed, has become one of three top models in the
nation. During his career he has trained 2,400 people in SAR, and 13
lives have been saved. As emphasis is placed on new programs, older
programs will be cut. He is concerned that the SAR will probably be
on the state budget chopping block.
Keane says it’s difficult to "preside
over birth and leave at its death." He hopes that local governments
will pick up and continue the programs that are needed, such as the
search and rescue. If state cuts that funding, he will still be
available for costs. He still has some SAR training sessions to
attend that were already scheduled.
However, Keane now intends to get
reacquainted with his wife of 28 years, Deborah. They plan to travel
around the United States a bit and enjoy life. Maybe they’ll visit
their 25-year-old son, Ian, who is in the Coast Guard.
He thinks
that if he gets desperate he might be able to get a job in a
bookstore.
[Jan
Youngquist]
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